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One of the Black Brant and a Dark Bellied Brent were south of the Floodgates, Strangford Lough (K Bennett, R McCullogh). Also 3 Little Egret in the area.
The Goosander was at Ballycastle.
2 Sandwich Tern were at Cloghy, on the Outer Ards. (K Bennet)
100 Whooper Swans were at Sion Mills
9 Little Egret were at Castle Espie

The dark juvenile Great Skua was still off Macedon Point (Stuart McKee).
A Merlin, 6 Whooper Swan, 100 Tree Sparrow and 300 Skylark were at Ballyquintin Point (Richard Weyl).
3 GN Diver were at Orlock Point (George Henderson) and a Grey Plover at Kearney Point (Gerard McGeehan).
Last night a Barn Owl was at Tobermore in Londonderry (David Morrow). The NIBA welcomes any reports of this species which we must be on the

verge of loosing as a breeding bird.

The major birding news in Ireland was of the juvenile North American Hen Harrier seen today at Tacumshim. (www.irishbirding.com).

A Short-eared Owl at Portavogie, a Merlin at Kirkiston, a Sandwich Tern 1 ml south of Ballywalter, 11 GN Diver past Burial Island between 11.30 and 12pm and 5 Swallow and a GN Diver at Orlock (Richard Weyl).

A Great Skua was off Macedon Point on the Antrim side of Belfast Lough (Stuart McKee).

2 Black Brant and 2 Dark bellied Brent were at the Floodgates Strangford Lough, for those of you who are unsure of the location of the floodgates, they are on the outskirts of Newtownards town.

Just as your leaving N'ards heading towards Portaferry they appear on your right hand side, just before you start seeing the Lough. There is a small car-park and also a viewing platform, it is always worthwhile checking the tide times, the birds feed on the mudflats close in when the tide is out.

2 Long tailed Duck were at Sandy Bay, Larne Lough (N.Warnock)

1000+Whooper Swan were at Lough Foyle, usually this large flock contain a few Berwick's Swan but you usually have to scan the flock carefully to pick them out.(M.Philips-Jones)

Once again thanks to everyone who text/ring in information, much appreciated.

Last week we published pictures of the Copeland Black Redstart and asked if you could age and sex the bird. Many thanks for David Galbraith in guiding us through this!

Note the rounded and relatively fresh tail feathers, which are also quite broad.

The lack of a white 'panel' on the wing rules out adult male.

We know it is an adult on the tail, plus the completely uniform nature of the wing
feathers, all relatively freshly moulted. A bird born this year would have
flight feathers unmoulted and almost always some greater coverts unmoulted,
thus showing contrast. Hence, it is an adult female, almost by elimination of
everything else. An immature should also have a dark edge (up to 9mm)
on the central tail feathers, whereas this bird clearly has uniform central
tail feathers.

It is a while since birders in NI had an opportunity to observe a Long-billed Dowitcher at close quarters. There have been about 25 previous records (Lough Beg is the top spot) but there are at least a few records annually in RoI. However, unlike most American waders, over-wintering records are not uncommon so one can be found at any time.
There is a bird currently showing at close range in Waterford and it has been captured extremely well by Mark Carmody in the photograph below:

30 Waxwing were at Ballycastle Co. Antrim (Flightline). 5 were also at Portnablagh, Donegal (Irish Birding) so keep an eye out for them!

A Lapland Bunting was in a stubble field at Orlock Point (Richard Weyl).
A pair of LT Duck was off Macedon Point but no sign of Velvet Scoters (Stuart McKee).
400 Whooper Swan were in a field near the Coast Inn at Myroe (C Stewart).
In south Down 200 Dunlin and 50 Ringed Plover at Ballykinler, and 13
Turnstone, 150 Turnstone and 200 Ringed Plover at Newcastle Beach (Jim
Whitla).

On the Antrim side of Belfast Lough 7 Velvet Scoter, an Arctic Skua and 30 Scaup were off Macedon Point, and a Kingfisher at Whitehouse Lagoon (Paul
McCullough).
At Strangford Lough a BT Diver was at Herring Bay and 8 Slavonian Grebe at Greyabbey Bay South (Richard Weyl).

An Adult Mediterranean Gull at Greyabbey South.

A Dark-bellied Brent was at the Maltings, Strangford Lough

3 Crossbill (2 of them male) were at Ballyboley Forest in Antrim (Antrim RSPB).
At Lough Foyle 6,000 Brent, 800 Wigeon, 10 Pintail, a Slavonian Grebe, adult Mediterranean Gull and 150 Whooper were between Longfield Point and Myroe,and another 491 Whooper in a field at the Roe Estuary (Stuart McKee).

As forecast below (although not difficult!), the first Irish Waxwings (4) of the winter have been reported from Horn Head, County Donegal.

In NI, we only have one record of Buff Bellied Pipit, a bird from Lough Beg on 11th - 19th December (note the late dates). It proved to be extremely elusive and so was only seen by a small number of local birders. There is an excellent write up on its description, identification and how it was found by David Steele in the most recent NIBA Bird Report XVIII.
However, with records in Britain and Ireland now annual and in small numbers, another bird is to be expected. There is presently a bird in Waterford and a stunning shot of it by Mark Camody is shown below. Note in particular the strong pale supercilium and the plain upperparts.

Thanks to Ed O'Hara who kindly sent in these photo's of a flock of Whooper's at Oxford Island, just wondering after to-day's weather have these birds decided that's enough for us were are going back to Iceland, it's drier.

If you are birding Cork in the near future, check out the service of the Cork Bird News twitter site - the web address is: http://twitter.com/corkbirdnews - the site has all the latest rare & scarce bird sightings in County Cork

After all the excitement of the last few weeks, things are now much quieter but is it the calm before the storm?.

2 male Goosander were at Lough Vearty (Fermanagh) on the border with Donegal
(Brad Robson).

A flock of 45 Whooper Swan was at Islandhill off the Comber Road (Spencer and Joan Marshall).
A Jay - (unusual for Island Magee but possibly a migrant) was in a garden in Ballystrudder (Robert McDowell).

An eclipse male Goosander and a Little Egret at Ballycarry Bridge in Larne Lough. 20 Little Egret and around 16 PF Geese were seen around the Lough. 10 Greenshank and a Little Egret were off Glynn Station. (C.Moore)

A SE Owl was seen in flight at Ardglass Golf Course (T.Murphy)

Along the north coast 2 Whooper Swan and a Merlin were at Myroe Levels and a Greenshank and 250 Brent at Ballykelly.

Probably the same flock of PF Geese and 9 Whooper Swan were reported from Ballycarry Bridge (N.Warnock)

Earlier this year Martin Garner gave a fascinating talk, Birding Frontiers, in which he opened many local birders eyes to both common and rare birds. One of the most basic examples was how he highlighted the humble Robin and in particular the identification of migrant birds from the continent. If you want to learn more or have forgotten what they look like then look at the image below and his website at:http://birdingfrontiers.com/
The key features that Martin highlighted were the olive upperparts (not brown) and orange breast (not red). Martin is revisiting us next spring for another talk so prepare to learn more!

The two Velvet Scoter were at Macedon Point and 500 Golden Plover were at the RSPB Belfast Harbour Estate,(S.McKee) always worth going through, just this year a Buff breasted Sandpiper and an American Golden Plover have been associated with Golden Plover flocks.

Apologies for delaying these reports from the last few days (email problems!):

There were 15 little egrets in the vicinity of Islandmagee on Sunday morning. Thirteen were in the lagoon beside the railway 1 mile north of Ballycarry Bridge, with another at rhe bridge and one more in a field north of the bridge on the Islandmagee side. (R McDowell)

Geese were arriving all day Friday along the north coast with 6/700 Barnacle
Geese, 70 Greenland White Fronted Geese and 16 Whooper Swan - the latter at Ballintoy (Colin
Guy).
At Strangford Lough 1,000 Golden Plover, 6 Little Egret and 100 Pintail were
at the Flood Gates (Keith Bennett).

The above are photographs from the 13th Oct. of the YBW that was trapped and ringed on Copeland Island Bird Observatory. There was another report of one on Rathlin Island. They look so small and fragile, but looks are obviously deceiving as these hardy little Warblers take on a migration over thousands of miles, amazing, how is it possible. Sometimes though when there are easterly winds, they get pushed off course and this week big numbers have been seen on headlands along the south coast of Ireland including Cape Clear; so they have been reported from one end of Ireland to the other. Thanks to David Galbraith who kindly sent in these series of photos.

2 Merlin were reported from Co. Down,one at Briggs Rocks and the other on Copeland Islands (R.Weyl)

A flock of 75 Linnet were at Junction 1 in Antrim(I. Dickey) Winter flocks of finches should be starting to build now in big numbers, always worth taking time to check through them for birds like Brambling and if your really lucky Hawfinch.

On the Antrim side of Belfast Lough 2 Velvet Scoter were off Macedon Point and a Kingfisher at Whitehouse Lagoon (Paul McCullough).

An imm male Goosander was at the mouth of the river at Ballycastle (Antrim) before flying off - a new bird as the male there last year was an adult. 6Whooper Swan were on the sea off Fair Head and a Common Tern at Cushendun(Colin Guy).

A YB Warbler and a Black Redstart were ringed on Copeland Bird Observatory,other birds of note were a Redwing a singing Willow Warbler a few Goldcrest. CBO has virtual monopoly on YB Warblers in Nth Ireland.(D&P Galbraith)

St John's Point has 6 Goldcrest, 2 Redwing, 3 Song Thrush, a few Blackbird, 700 Skylark, up to a 1000 Starling, 250 Linnet, 20 Brent Geese, 2 Carrion Crow and a Merlin.(D.Allen/C.Mellon)

A L.E. Owl was at Hillsborough and a Barn Owl at Lisburn last night (G.Wilkinson)

As well as the bird news in the previous posts below, other sightings today included:

3 Lapland Bunting and 100 Skylark in the last piece of stubble field not yet
ploughed at Kearney Point. Also 350 Lapwing, and 6 Swallow in the
area (Richard Weyl).
7 Red Kite from the RSPB viewpoint at Castlewellan (Dot Blakely).
2 Tree Sparrow and a Carrion Crow at Ballyquintin and a Chiffchaff and 4
Goldcrest at Templecowey (Dave Allen and Clive Mellon).
Yesterday 18 GWF Geese in flight at Dunseverick (Colin Guy)

Buff-breasted Sandpiper - A bird is on the ploughed field at Kirkistown, Co. Down (G Armstrong)

There was also 200 Golden Plove in the field,lots of Skylark and Meadow Pipit and up to 4 Wheatear at less one of them showing signs of the Greenland race. Over the next few weeks this field is well worth checking.

An obvious movement of birds were passing through Black Head Co. Antrim this afternoon,they included 80 + Robin although this was a rough estimate they seemed to everywhere, 40+Long-tailed Tit were in a mixed flock which included other tit species and 70+Goldcrest, plus an unusual high count of 30 + Woodpigeon.(I.Enlander)

If you remember back to Sunday 2nd Oct. when Ed O'Hara sent in photographs of a female Pochard with a band on it's upper bill. Fascinated to know of its origin we did a little detective work, we can inform everyone that the bird was ringed on 20/5/09 at a location called Saint-Philbert-De Grand-lieu,which is 4oo km SE of Paris. The bird was aged as a 2 year old, our French counterparts are keen to keep tabs on their female Pochard so if anyone is birding around the Oxford Island area and come across this bird let the blog know and we can pass on the information.

A lot of Irish Birders try to visit Cape Clear at least once a year. It is without doubt, the best location in Ireland for seeing rare birds. This week it has had Irelands first American Warbler of the Autumn, a Yellow-rumped Warbler.
For those traveling from NI, the road network means that it is either dual carriageway or motorway all the way to Cork. The journey to Cork now takes just over 4 hours with another 70 minutes to the ferry at Baltimore.

With regard to the birding, it is always unexpected. Yes it can be quiet sometimes but it also provides an excellent opportunity for you to find your own rarities. The bird list for the island is of fantastic high quality. Expect some snippets of news from this web site over the next few weeks as a number of northern birders try to find their own rarities!

4 Lapland Bunting at Ramore Head (Antrim) and the adult RB Gull at Portrush East Strand car park. (M Tickner)
A WT Eagle was at Lower Lough Erne (Fermanagh) - reported to Brad Robson by fishermen.
John Neill had the first Brambling (female) in his garden in Carrickfergus (Antrim) yesterday. This follows on from six seen at Malin Head on Monday.

As usual, many thanks to all our contributors who share an interest in keeping NI birders informed about local sightings!

There's a report from today of Redwings arriving at Malin Head Co.Donegal, so it's only a matter of days before these beautiful winter visitors will be seen regularly in Northern Ireland. When first arriving they can often be heard at night flying over. If you remember back to the start of the year when we had the severe winter, many people were reporting that they had these 'strange thrush like birds' in their garden.....
Coincidentally, a member of the public sent Michael Viney (Irish Times), a credible record stating that Redwing bred at Dun Laoghaire, south of Dublin, this year.

St.John's Point,no great sign of any movement,birds of note included 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Puffin,and 3 RT Diver,5 Buzzard were at Kellys Wood, small parties of Swallow and House Martin were passing through as were a number of Skylark.

Whitehead Co.Antrim had a steady movement of Gannets approx 1000 per. hr they were moving in a S.E. direction, along the seafront there seem to be a small fall of passerines with 60+ meadow pipits, and 30 Goldcrests. (I.Enlander)

Islandmagee had 6 Pink footed Geese NE of Ballycarry Bridge of Larne Lough. Ferris Bay area north of Islandmagee, had a Chiffchaff and a Sanderling, there was also 20 + Goldcrests in the area (I.Enlander).

2 Med.Gull (ad +2nd winter) at Cloghy Bay Co.Down (K.Bennett/R.Weyl).

Another Med.Gull (1st winter) was at Ballycastle Bay Co.Antrim(C.Guy)

Along Strangford Lough 2 Little Egret were at the floodgates,200 Golden Plover a Greenshank and 25 Bar-Tailed Godwit at Greyabbey Bay (K.Bennett)

Thanks to Ed O'Hara for the above photos from Oxford Island which shows a female Pochard with a band on it's upper mandible with the letters NT printed on it, possibly part of some type of tracking scheme, if anyone knows the real reason please let the blog know.We are here to educate.

Welcome

This site is run by a voluntary group of birders documenting and recording information about the birds and wildlife of Northern Ireland. We provide information on rarities and interesting sightings. The sightings on this blog are not accepted records - rarities need to be confirmed, see https://nirbc.blogspot.co.uk/